Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181

Vol. 7 Issue 06, June-2018

Design and Analysis of Space Frame Chasis for

Formula Student Race Car
Bhande Akshay S., Bhagat R. V., Anwer D., Anand A.
Nitnaware P. T.
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
D.Y. Patil College of Engineering, Akurdi, Pune 411044

Abstract - Conventionally chassis is made up of AISI1018 steel 1. Minimize the weight to stiffness ratio
.As the level of progress in improvising the efficiency of engine
has come to saturation point. It is important to study the
2. Maintain Low Center of Gravity
different aspect to enhance the overall performance of an 3. Reasonable material and manufacturing costs
automobile .As chassis forms the base mount all the automotive
4. Create a solid base chassis to evolve on for years to come
components like engine, transmission, braking and steering
systems ,it must be able to take the entire weight of components 5. Aesthetically pleasing design Chassis
efficiently .Using steel grades gives us necessary strength.
Considering the fact that the car to be manufactured is a sport II. LITERATURE REVIEW
car, it is necessary to eliminate the factors which may hamper 2.1 The Chassis
the performance of a car .So one of the important alternative is
to change the material and it must be chosen in such a way that The chassis is possibly the most important part of any
it imparts necessary strengths and also keep entire weight vehicle. Its main role is to provide the vehicle with a main
under limit .The main purpose of this project is to test structure which all other components can be fixed to. The
AISI4130 steel for a space frame chassis to withstand all forces chassis must be rigid in both torsion and bending and must
experienced under realistic experience condition .A complete be able to resist twisting and sagging. The chassis must be
analysis by using AISI4130 steel is to be carried out as to able to accommodate and support all the components of the
compare it with AISI1018 steel for ensuring improved vehicle and any occupants and must absorb all loads without
performance.
excessive deflection.
2.2 Types of chassis design
I. INTRODUCTION
2.2.1 Ladder Frame Chassis
The chassis of an automobile is defined as frame supported
The ladder frame chassis was the earliest type of chassis
on springs and attached to the axle that holds the body and
used. It was widely used for the earliest cars until the early
engine of vehicle. Chassis is a French word and was initially
60s. The design is, as the name suggest, similar to a ladder.
used to denote the frame parts or basic structure of an
There are two longitudinal rails running the length of the
automobile. It is the back bone of the vehicle. It is the main
vehicle which are connected together by several lateral and
mounting for all the components. So it is also called as
cross braces.
Carrying unit. The chassis of an automobile consists of
following components suitably mounted:
2.2.2 Space Frame Chassis
1. Engine and the radiator.
2. Transmission system. The space frame was the next logical step up from the ladder
3. Suspension system. frame. A space frame has a number of features that
4. Wheel Assembly. distinguish it from a ladder frame and add massive
5. Steering System. advantages. A perfectly designed space frame would have
6. Brakes System. the tubular sections arrange so that the only forces on them
7. Fuel Tank. are either tension or compression.
8. Other Miscellaneous Components.
All the components listed above are mounted in either of the
two ways, viz., the conventional construction, in which a
separate frame is used and the frameless or unitary
construction in which no separate frame is employed. Out of
these, the conventional type of construction is being used
presently only for the heavy vehicles. While for the car same
has been replaced by the frameless type or the monocoque
chassis.The purpose is to design and manufacture tubular
space frame chassis that should be strong enough to absorb
the energy when front, back, side, torsional loads are
applied. For the purpose of the application on a high
performance racing car, it has to meet the following criteria:

IJERTV7IS060002 www.ijert.org 1
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
 Published by :
http://www.ijert.org
Fig.2
2.2.3 Monocoque Chassis
The Monocoque style of chassis is used by almost all car
manufacturers today. A Monocoque is a one-piece structure
that defines the overall shape of the vehicle. This type of
chassis is very attractive to mass production as the process
can be automated very easily. The structure also has very
good crash protection as crumple zones can be built into the
structure itself.
2.2.4 Backbone Chassis
A backbone chassis is a simple style of frame that uses a
central backbone running the length of the chassis that
connects to the front and rear suspension attachment areas.
The backbone usually has a rectangular cross section. The
body of the vehicle is then placed onto of the structure. This
type of chassis is used sometimes for small sports cars
however it provides little or no protection against a side
impact and so requires the body to be designed to
accommodate this.
III. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
3.1 Various Loads Acting On Chassis
1. Weight of the vehicle and passengers, which causes
vertical bending of the side members.
2. Vertical loads when the vehicle comes across a bump or
hollow, which results in longitudinal torsion due to wheel
lifted (or lowered) with other wheels at the usual road level.
3. Loads due to road camber, side wind, cornering force
while taking a turn, which result in lateral bending of side
members.
4. Load due to wheel impact with the road obstacles may
cause that particular wheel to remain obstructed while the
other wheel tends to move forward, distorting the frame to
parallelogram shape.
5. Engine torque and braking torque tending to bend the side
members in the vertical plane.
6. Sudden impact loads during collision, which may results
in a general collapse.
3.2 Estimated Load of the Vehicle
The various load which is acting on the vehicle are estimate
according to the center of gravity of the vehicle. As the
various load acting on the vehicle are distributed are shown
in the below table.
IJERTV7IS060002
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 06, June-2018
Sr.No. Components Mass (Kg)
1. Driver 80
2. Engine & Radiator 45
3. Drive train 25
4. Chassis 40
5. Steering & Suspension 25
6. Body work 25
By considering miscellaneous masses such as the wishbones
(front & rear), wheels, fuel tank etc. The weight of the car is
considered to be approximately 250 kg.
3.3 Other Design Consideration
There are several factors that must be considered when
designing the frame.
1) Safety
Fortunately, the FSAE rules committee has set up a
group of rules requiring certain tubing sizes in areas of the
frame critical to driver safety in the event of an accident.
These rules define outer diameters and wall thicknesses for
the front bulkhead, front roll hoop, main roll hoop, side
impact tubing, roll hoop bracing, and front impact zones.
The stated rules are adhered to without deviation so that the
driver may be safe and the car can pass technical inspection
at competition.
2) Stiffness
Normally, a race car chassis should be as stiff as
possible to withstand torsion. This is to facilitate easier
suspension tuning. When determining the handling qualities
of a race car, one of the most effective methods of adjusting
the amount of over-steer and under-steer is the adjustment of
roll stiffness, front-to-rear. By increasing front roll stiffness
while decreasing rear roll stiffness, both rear tyres are more
equally weighted than the front tyres. The force on the
outside front tyre quickly overwhelms the traction available
to it, and the car under-steers. Conversely, with a large
amount of rear roll stiffness and a small amount of front roll
stiffness, the inside rear tyre is lifted during a turn, the
amount of available rear traction is reduced, and the car
over-steers. By tuning the stiffness of the anti-roll bars, it is
possible to affect the balance of the car.
3) Torsional Stiffness
Torsional order to design a car of maximum
torsional stiffness the basis or generalized equation for
torsion must be examined.
Stiffness is the resistance of the frame to torsional loads.
FEA was used to analyze the torsional stiffness of the
chassis.
GθJ
T=
L
The above equation is a simple formula that relates
the angle of twist to the applied torque, with J representing
the shafts polar moment of inertia, with θ denoting the
resultant twist of the shaft, G representing the shear modulus
of the material and L being the length of the shaft. Now a
chassis can be made extremely stiff by adding significant
amounts of material to the frame. However, this additional
material might degrade the performance of the car because
www.ijert.org 2
 Published by :
http://www.ijert.org
of the added mass. Therefore while designing a race car
chassis it is important to get a balance between the weight
and stiffness of the chassis.
4) Weight
As discussed earlier, wherever possible, weight
should be minimized. All tubing sizes not dictated by the
rules were chosen to be as light as possible while remaining
structurally sound and suitably stiff. Just as important as
weight, is mass moment of inertia. A car with a lower mass
moment of inertia will be able to turn more quickly. In order
to reduce mass moment of inertia, all weight on the chassis
is pushed as far as possible towards the centre of the vehicle.
5) Triangulation
Triangulation can be used to increase the torsional
stiffness of a frame, since a triangle is the simplest form
which is always a structure and not a mechanism.
Obviously, a frame which is a structure will be torsionally
stiffer than a mechanism. Therefore, an effort should be
made to triangulate the chassis as much as possible.
Visualizing the frame as a collection of rods which are
connected by pin joints can help frame designers locate the
mechanisms in a design.
6) Ergonomics
Ergonomics, or the study of human-machine interfacing, is
important to vehicle design because the ultimate control of
the vehicle belongs to the driver. When designing this
‘interface’ between person and machine, several aspects
should be taken into account so that the best system of
control is produced.
7) Seating Position/Field of View
A key input to the interface is the driver’s vision
and that of any co-driver (i.e. Rally). The field of view, as
shown in diagram below, should include visibility ahead and
to the sides of the vehicle (Approximately 180 degree arc–
more is even better) and visibility of the road surface.
The driver needs a sufficient level of information
about the nature of the oncoming road surface and what is
occurring beside them through peripheral vision to drive
confidently. If the driver must strain their neck to see
enough to feel confident, their field of view is inadequate.
8) The design goals of the seating position are:
• To enable the driver (and co-driver) to see clearly
ahead and beside themselves through standard and
peripheral vision.
• To provide a position of comfortable leverage for
the driver so they do not become tired due to
operating the controls from an awkward position.
• To enable the driver to adequately see the side
mirrors in their peripheral vision (At a minimum)
so that the driver need not continuously take their
eyes off the road ahead to gauge an opponent’s
position behind them. Ideally the side mirrors
should be far enough forward to enable direct
viewing by a driver glancing at them.
IJERTV7IS060002
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 06, June-2018
• To enable easy visual access to gauges and other
visual feedback in the forward looking line of sight.
• To minimize CG height to optimize handling
9) Control Positions
Vehicle controls should be within a comfortable reach of the
driver (and co-driver if applicable) and be comfortable to
operate. Controls that are awkward to reach or difficult to
operate will distract the driver/co-driver and potentially
result in more driving mistakes.
IV MODELING OF CHASSIS
4.1 Rulebook Compliance
4.1.1 General Requirements
Among other requirements, the vehicle's structure must
include two roll hoops that are braced, a front bulkhead with
support system and Impact Attenuator, and side impact
structures.
4.1.2 Node-to-node triangulation - An arrangement of frame
members projected onto a plane, where a co-planar load
applied in any direction, at any node, results in only tensile
or compressive forces in the frame members. This is also
what is meant by "properly triangulated".
4.1.3When seated normally and restrained by the Driver's
Restraint System, the helmet of a 95th percentile male
(anthropometrical data) and all of the team's drivers must:
a. Be a minimum of 50.8 mm (2 inches) from the straight
line drawn from the top of the main hoop to the top of the
front hoop.
b. Be a minimum of 50.8 mm (2 inches) from the straight
line drawn from the top of the main hoop to the lower end of
the main hoop bracing if the bracing extends rearwards.
4.1.4 In the side view of the vehicle, the portion of the Main
Roll Hoop that lies above its attachment point to the Major
Structure of the Frame must be within ten degrees (10°) of
the vertical.
4.1.5 In the front view of the vehicle, the vertical members
of the Main Hoop must be at least 380 mm (15 inch) apart
(inside dimension) at the location where the Main Hoop is
attached to the Major Structure of the Frame.
4.1.6 In side view, no part of the Front Hoop can be inclined
at more than twenty degrees (20°) from the vertical.
4.1.7 The Main Hoop must be supported by two braces
extending in the forward or rearward direction on both the
left and right sides of the Main Hoop.
www.ijert.org 3
 Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 06, June-2018

4.1.7 In the side view of the Frame, the Main Hoop and the
Main Hoop braces must not lie on the same side of the
vertical line through the top of the Main Hoop, i.e. if the
Main Hoop leans forward, the braces must be forward of the
Main Hoop, and if the Main Hoop leans rearward, the braces
must be rearward of the Main Hoop.
will be inserted into the cockpit opening. It will be held
horizontally and inserted vertically until it has passed below
the top bar of the Side Impact Structure (or until it is 350
mm (13.8 inches) above the ground for monocoque cars).
No fore and aft translation of the template will be permitted
during insertion.

4.1.8 The Main Hoop braces must be attached as near as

possible to the top of the Main Hoop but not more than 160
mm (6.3 in) below the top-most surface of the Main Hoop.
The included angle formed by the Main Hoop and the Main
Hoop braces must be at least thirty degrees (30°).

4.1.9 The top-most surface of the Front Hoop must be no

lower than the top of the steering wheel in any angular
position.

4.2.0 The Front Hoop must be no more than 250 mms (9.8
inches) forward of the steering wheel. This distance shall be
measured horizontally, on the vehicle centerline, from the
rear surface of the Front Hoop to the forward most surface
of the steering wheel rim with the steering in the straight-
ahead position.

4.2.1 The attachment of the Main Hoop braces must be

capable of transmitting all loads from the Main Hoop into
the Major Structure of the Frame without failing. From the
lower end of the braces there must be a properly triangulated
structure back to the lowest part of the Main Hoop and the
node at which the upper side impact tube meets the Main
Hoop. Structure must meet the minimum requirements for
Main Hoop Bracing Supports or an SES approved
alternative. Bracing loads must not be fed solely into the
engine, transmission or differential, or through suspension
components.

4.2.2 The Front Hoop must be supported by two braces

extending in the forward direction on both the left and right Fig.5.10 Cockpit opening template
sides of the Front Hoop.
Cockpit Internal Cross Section
A free vertical cross section, which allows the template
shown in Figure 9 to be passed horizontally through the
cockpit to a point 100 mm (4 inches) rearwards of the face
of the rearmost pedal when in the inoperative position, must
be maintained over its entire length. If the pedals are
adjustable, they will be put in their most forward position.

4.2 Benchmarking and CAD modelling

4.2.3 The Front Hoop braces must be constructed such that
they protect the driver's legs and should extend to the
structure in front of the driver's feet.
4.2.4 The Front Hoop braces must be attached as near as
possible to the top of the Front Hoop but not more than 50.8
mm (2 in) below the top-most surface of the Front Hoop.
Cockpit Opening
In order to ensure that the opening giving access to the
cockpit is of adequate size, a template shown in Figure 8
1. Basic layout of the chassis
This step includes fixing main components of the vehicle.
The vehicle's structure must include two roll hoops that are
braced, a front bulkhead with support system and Impact
Attenuator, and side impact structures.
2. Measurements and fixing fundamental parameters
This step decides the approximate dimensions of the two roll
hoops i.e. Front hoop, Main hoop that are braced, a front
bulkhead with support system and side impact structure.
3. Selection of frame
The selected frame may be of Channel section, Tubular
section or Box section. The Channel Section is good in
resistance to bending, while the Tubular Section is good in

IJERTV7IS060002 www.ijert.org 4
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
 Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 06, June-2018

resistance to torsion. The Box Section is good in resisting VI. CONCLUSION

both bending and Torsion The function of the chassis is to protect the driver and
4. Drawing of wireframe on CAD software support front and rear suspension systems, engine, drive
Wire framing is one of the methods used in geometric train, steering system and other systems in the vehicle. The
modelling systems. A wireframe model represents the shape objective of the chassis design was to satisfy these functions
of a solid object with its characteristic lines and points. while meeting the Formula Student regulations with special
5. Checking whether it is satisfying design goals considerations given to safety of the driver, quality, weight,
This step is to cross verify the design with the Formula ergonomics and aesthetics. The complexity of design and
Student Rulebook. And to check whether the design is the arrangement of the components contribute a waste space
satisfying the design goal. which not makes the car more compact and improvement in
6. Final 3D model on software. the chassis to overcome problems faced in assembly and
After finalizing the final structure of the Chassis the 3D maintenance. The purpose of this this project is not only to
model is drawn on the CAD software such as Catia V5, design the roll cage for the Formula Student Competition,
SolidWorks and Siemens NX etc. but also to provide an in depth study in the process taken to
arrive at the final design. During the design process, we
V MATERIAL SELECTION must achieve a compromise between cost, manufacturing,
performance, and design time so that the car will be
AISI AISI AISI AISI competitive in all aspects of the FS competition. However,
Properties
1010 1018 4130 4140
we should understand that it will take several iterations to
Tensile Strength converge on a satisfactory design.
365 440 560 655
(MPa)
Yield Strength
305 370 460 415
VII. REFERENCES
(MPa) [1] Automobile Engineering Vol. 1, 12th Edition, Dr. Kirpalsingh,
Elastic Modulus 190- page no. 21
190-210 210 190-210
(GPa) 210
[2] A Text Book on Automobile Chassis and Body Engineering,
0.27- 0.27- 0.27-
Poisson’s Ratio 0.29 Sri. N.R.HEMA KUMAR page no. 2
0.30 0.30 0.30
Brinell Hardness 105 126 217 197 [3] Racing And Sports Car Chassis Design Michael Costinand
Density (g/cm3) 7.87 7.87 7.85 7.85 David Phipps, Withdrawings by James A. Allington B. T.
Elongation (%) 20 15 22 26 BATSFORD LTD, LONDON, Second edition 1965, page
1. After load approximation, next step was the selection of no.5
[4] A Text Book on Automobile Chassis and Body Engineering,
material to construct a chassis. Sri. N.R.HEMA KUMAR page no. 5
[5] Chassis, Aerodynamics and FEA.pdf 2013, SAE INDIA,
2. Availability is one of the main factors which dominate the structural analysis page no.9,
material selection process. Working on this single, list of [6] CHASSIS, AERODYNAMICS AND FEA.pdf 2013, SAE
different desirable and available material was prepared. INDIA, chassis design consideration page no.1,
Steel and aluminum alloys are always the choice of most of [7] 2017-18 formula SAE® Rules page no. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30,
the times. After reviewing mechanical properties, 31, 32, 33, 34, 40, 47, and 48.
availability, cost and other significant factors, Steel AISI [8] IJPRET ISSN: 2319-507X Structural Performance Analysis of
Formula SAE Car by Piyush Ram Shahade, Akshay Kumar
4130 was selected.
Kaware
3. AISI/SAE 4130 grade is a versatile alloy with good
atmospheric corrosion resistance and reasonable strength up
to around 600º F (315º C). It shows good overall
combinations of strength, toughness and fatigue strength.
4. The following datasheet provides comparison of available
material.

IJERTV7IS060002 www.ijert.org 5
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)